Electric-circuit-closing device.



W. W. BURKE.

ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CLOSING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-25, I916.

Patented Nov. 7, 1916.

V W W UNITED STATES PATENT oFFroE;

WILLIALI W. BURKE, 0F BENNINGTGN, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR T0 COOPER MANUFAC-TURING COMPANY, OF BENNINGTON, VERMONT, A CORPORATION OF VERMONT.

ELECTRIC-GIRCUIT-GLOSING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. *7, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM W. BURKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bennington, in the county of Bennington and State ofVermont, have invented new and useful Improvements inElectric-Circuit-ClosingDevices, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an electric circuit closing deviceparticularly adapted to be used in machines employing a thread or astrand of yarn such as knitting machines, said device embodying in itsconstruction a drop device which is adapted to open and close saidelectric circuit, the device being so constructed and arranged that whena thread or yarn breaks or when abnormal. tension is brought to bearupon said thread or yarn the drop device will be operated to close thecircuit. Said circuit when closed will operate a tripper which, in turn,will operate to release a stop motion mechanism and allow the same tooperate to stop the machine.

The invention is an improvement upon the stop motion mechanism forknitting machines disclosed in my United States Patents Nos. 1,096,890and 1,096,891, patented May 19, 191%, stop motion mechanism for knittingmachines and circuit closing device, to which reference may be had. Thepresent invention is an improvement upon that particular portion of saidstop motion mechanism which includes the drop device and assists in itsoperation. In that invention, however, a thread guide which was locatedbetween the drop device and another thread guide located on a lever wasstationary. Inthis embodiment of my invention I mount two thread guidesupon said lever, the thread guide which is adjacent to the drop devicebeing adjustable on said lever toward and away from the drop device, theobject of this construction being to provide a guide or support for thethread as close to the drop wire as possible, and to provide a means ofsupport on which said guide is adjustable toward and away from the dropwire.

In knitting the finer counts of yarn the thread guide adjacent to thedrop wire should be set very close to the drop wire in order that asfine a drop wire as is possible may be used and, when knitting heavycounts of yarn the support or thread guide adjacent to the drop deviceshould be set much farther away, as there are more or less bunches ofwaste found on said heavy yarns. Therefore, if the support or guide forthe yarn is set too close to the drop wire this will catch between saidthread guide and the drop wire and prevent the wire from dropping.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the combination andarrangement of parts set forth in the following specification andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved stopmotion mechanism. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is asectional elevation taken on line 8-3 of Fig. 2.

Like numerals refer to like parts through out the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings. 5 is a base preferably constructed in two parts 6 and 7and containing mercury cups 8 constituting con tacts for an electriccircuit. 9 and 10 are wires forming a portion of said electric circuitconnected to contact sgrews 11 and 12, respectively, which contactscrews engage the bottoms of bushings 13 in which the contact cups 8 arelocated. The contact cups 8 contain mercury lt. Connection is made tocomplete the circuit between the mercury contacts 14: by the two legs 15of a drop wire 16, said legs being connected by a cross-bar 17 whichconstitutes a guide for a strand of yarn. The yarn 18 is led over aguide 19 to the drop wire 16 and thence over a guide and support 20. Thestrand of yarn passes from the guide 20 to a guide eye 21 and from theguide eye 21 said yarn passes to the needles of the knitting machine.Said yarn is suitably guided by other yarn guides as illustrated in saidPatent No. 1,096,890.

The guides 20 and 21 are supported upon a lever 22 which consists of twoside arms connected by a cross-bar 24: and pivoted at 25 to the upperportion 6 'of the base. Said lever 22 has an arm 26 and upon this arm issupported the guide 20, said guide being adjustable upon said arm towardand away from the drop wire 16 and being locked in. position on said armby means of a set-screw 27. Said arm 26 extends above the drop wire 16and under certain condi tions hereinafter fully set forth engages saiddrop wire and pushes the same downwardly until its legs contact with themercury in the cups 8 and thus, complete the electric circuit wherebythe stop motion mechanism for stopping the machine is ac.- tuated. Saidarm 26 extends through the cross-bar 2d and upon the rear side there ofis screw-threaded to receive one or more adjustable weights 28 whichhave screwthreaded engagement with said arm 26 and may be used where avery heavy tension is required upon the yarn. The guide 20, however, isfor many sizes of yarn all the counterweight that is supplied to thelever 2i and it will be noted that as said guide 20 is moved toward oraway i'rom the drop wire 16 it simultaneously moves nearer to or fartherfrom the center of the pivots 25, so that said guide 20peri orms notonly 'thefunction of guiding the yarn but also acts as a counterweightfor the lever lVhen a heavy yarn is used in a machine a greater tensionhas to be applied to said yarn than where a light yarn is used, andwhere a heavy yarn is used it is desirable to have the guide 20 fartheraway from the drop wire than when a light yarn is used. Therefore, theadjustmentoi' the rude. 2O automatically performs two functions. One isto increase the effective weight upon the lever 22 and thus applygreater tension to the yarn. The other is to make more space between theguide and the drop wire 16. On the other hand when the guide 20 is movedtoward the drop wire it lessens the effective weight upon the lever 22and decreases the distance between said guide and the drop wire torender the device more practical for handling the finer yarns. In orderto still further render it possible to bring the yarn guide 20 close tothe drop Wire it is flattened off on the side toward said drop wirewhile being left rounded on its top so that it forms a rounded surfacefor guiding the yarn and at the same time provides a greater spacebetween the yarn guide and the drop wire.

The operation of the device is as follows: The yarn passes over theguide 19 through the drop wire 16, thence over the guide and support 20,thence through the guide eye 21 and through suitable stationary guideeyes to the needles of tl e knitting machine. The yarn is led to theguide 19 through suitable guide eyes from bobbins on the ma chine asparticularly illustrated in my said Patent No. 1,096,890, Fig. 2.

When a machine is in operation under normal conditions the parts will bein the position illustrated in full lines (Fig. 2). When, however,abnormal tension is brought to bear upon the yarn 18 for any reason theyarn will cause the lever 22 to tip upon its pivot 25 and move upwardlyfrom the position illustrated in full lines (Fig. 2) to that illustratedin dotted lines in said figure. When the lever has been tipped ashereinbefore described, by reason of abnormal tension on the yarn, theend of the arm 26 which bears against the drop wire 16 will push saiddrop wire downwardly until the points oil? the legs 15 of said drop wirecontact with the mercury l-ft in the cups 8, the circuit will then becompleted and the ma chine will be stopped by mechanism actuated by theclosing of said circuit as fully described in said Letters Patent No.1,096,890.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by LettersPatentto secure is 1. A circuit closingdevice having, in combination, anelectric circuit including a drop device adapted to open and close saidcircuit and constituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a. plurality ofguides for said yarn, a lever, and a plurality of guides for said yarnmounted on said lever whereby under abnormal. tension said lever may berocked by said yarn, one of said last-named guides being adjustabletoward and away from said drop device.

2. A circuitclosing device having, in com bination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality of guides forsaid yarn, a lever adapted to engage said drop device, and a pluralityof guides for said yarn mounted on said lever whereby when underabnormal tension said lever may be rocked by said yarn to move said dropdevice to close said circuit, one of said last-named yarn guides beingadjustable on said lever toward and away from said drop device.

3. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a. stationary guide for saidyarn at one side of said drop device, a pair of movable guides for saidyarn on the opposite side of said drop device and means connected withsaid movable guides and engaging said drop device adapted to be actuatedby an abnormal tension on said yarn to move said drop device to closesaid circuit.

4. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a stationary guide for saidyarn at one side of said drop device, a pair of movable guides for saidyarn on the opposite side of said drop device and means connected withsaid movable guides and engaging said drop device adapted to be actuatedby an abnormal tension on said yarn to move said drop device to closesaid circuit, one of said movable guides being adjustable toward andaway from said drop device.

5. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality of guides forsaid yarn, a lever, a pivot for said lever and a pair of guides for saidyarn mounted on said lever, one of said last-named pair of guides beingmovable toward and away from said drop device whereby the weight at oneside of said pivot may be varied.

6. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality of guides forsaid yarn, a lever adapted to engage said drop device, a pivot for saidlever, a pair of guides for said yarn mounted on said lever, one of saidpair of guides being adjustable toward and away from said drop devicewhereby when under abnormal tension said lever may be rocked by saidyarn to move said drop device to close said circuit.

7. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality 0]": guides forsaid yarn, a lever, an arm on said lever adapted to engage said dropdevice, a pair of guides mounted on said lever, one of said pair ofguides being adjustably mounted on said arm and adjustable toward andaway from said drop device whereby when under abnormal tension saidlever may be rocked by said yarn to move said drop device to close saidcircuit.

8. A circuit closing device having, in com bination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality of guides forsaid yarn, a lever, an arm on said lever, a pair of guides for said yarnmounted on said lever, one of said pair of guides being mounted on saidarm and movable on said arm toward and away from said drop device.

9. A circuit closing device having, in combination, an electric circuitincluding a drop device adapted to open and close said circuit andconstituting a guide for a strand of yarn, a plurality of guides forsaid yarn, a lever, an arm on said lever, a pair of guides for said yarnmounted on said lever, one of said pair of guides being mounted on saidarm and movable on said arm toward and away from said drop device, saidlast named guide being rounded upon its upper side and flattened on theside toward said drop device.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

' WILLIAM W. BURKE. Witnesses:

CHARLES S. Knnon, CHARLES H. PATCH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

